Cat Cafes!

Ever had a landlord that disliked cats so much that they purposely made the rent to owning a cat astronomical, or simply didn’t allow it? When having a pet can help even in the worst of times, what can a tenant do?

Go to a Cat Cafe, obviously.

A Cat Cafe is exactly what it sounds like. A cafe filled with cats. The amount of feline friends varies from 6-50, according to the Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium website. Yet, the idea is the same: a customer will go to a cafe, get their tea and be comforted by a cat or two. Sometimes, Cat cafes will force a “look but don’t touch” policy, but most are not like this.

According to the care2 website, the very first Cat cafe started in Taiwan.The Cat cafe, ”貓花園” (Cat Flower Garden), quietly started in 1998, and most definitely allows cats and customers to cozy up.

Since then, the idea of a Cat Cafe has sparked huge popularity all across the world. From the Cat’s Royalty Dubai Cat Cafe in the Middle East (opened in 2009) to Cat Cafe Melbourne in Australia (recently opened in July).

Cat Cafe in the U.S has even sprouted. Unlike many other countries, there are rigid health regulations in the U.S. that make it near impossible to open a Cat Cafe. Yet, a local animal rescue group in New York has succeeded in establishing the first U.S. Cat Cafe, Purina ONE. The cafe is a pop-up only, meaning its location changes every few days.

Being a pop-up only cafe, Purina ONE will be updating its website on where it will be next, and for how long. Unfortunately, from what I can tell, the website hasn’t been updated as of late. The latest calendar date is April.

By the way, did I mention some Cat cafes will invest in particular types of cats (black, rare, fat, rescue, etc.) for their cafe? From what I’ve noticed, there are a lot of Cat cafes invested in rescuing cats and giving them a better home.

For those of you unable to visit a Cat Cafe anytime soon, I will be posting a short article on Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium in London when I visit next week.